Let’s Struggle

Bismillah

I have a test tomorrow… But for some reasons I just feel that I must post this…

I, being my usual careless self, accidentally left my watch at the Biochem lab last week… But somehow, I’m not really worried at all… Somehow I believed that the watch will still be there on the next day… I simply trusted these people…

I wouldn’t have the same degree of trust if this is to happen in… Well, let’s put it ’somewhere we all know’…

The people here, they don’t believe in the hereafter… They can simply take my watch and keep silent… What’s stopping them from doing so? And even if they did in fact, took my watch and claimed the ownership, it’s understandable… They have nothing to fear… They don’t believe in retribution…

Oh, I’m not implying that by not believing in the existence of God, the world would be a better place… But let us all face this fact… Almost 80% of Swedes don’t believe that God exist (And there are many more examples)… And look at their living standard… It’s one of the best if not the best… Well, maybe what they consider as good standard of living is not the same as what we consider… But even if we don’t consider economy and standard of living as the yard stick, by today’s standard, what can the Islamic world be proud of? What is our contribution?

Don’t tell me about what great Islamic scholars of the past have done… Those were long over due… Those, in my opinion, are for motivation, not something to be proud of… Even if it’s something to be proud of, it’s them scholars, who have the right to be proud… Not us… It’s their contribution…

No matter how hard people say that respect should just be given (which I agree to a certain extent), in reality however, respect is earned…

With that said, let’s struggle! With everyone by their own way… Not just to be respected, but to get His consent…

There is a flaw in your punishment… A huge one… It needs for me to feel guilty… But for that I have to first accept your moral code, a thing which I could and would never do…

“Trust me, it’s winter now”

Bismillah

I have nothing to be shared in particular, except for this nasyeed… So nice to the ear and most importantly is the message it tries to convey…

I can’t help but wonder… Why is it that some people are so allergic to change? (Let’s admit it, some people change… And a lot of our friends are APBTH are changing for the better) But, why such disgust? I will hinder myself from speculating, but I guess we all know why…

The title comes from a conversation I had with one of the Professors/Assistants from Physiology… I forgot to bring my lab coat, so since the lab was only about membrane potential, I crossed my fingers and asked whether he would still let me join the lab… He then answered, “Well, of course… But where’s your lab shoes?” He also showed me his sandals… They looked like this :

I replied, “I don’t have that either, I thought that’s for winter”.

He laughed and replied, “Trust me, it’s winter now”.

I politely argued about his statement, saying that there was no snow and the weather wasn’t so cold (Not like in the picture)… He then asked me when does winter start in my country… Haha… By then I know that I couldn’t win the argument… He should be correct, since he was born here…

Well, it was nothing serious… He still let me in, nonetheless…

A friend went home this week… I don’t know when we’ll see each other again…

Which is worse… To lose the key or the key chain?

Memory, Race and Greed

Bismillah

This past week was amazing… I met again with my old friends, albeit only virtually… Virtually it might be, the feelings, I believe, were very real, and hopefully, mutual… Hehe…

Everyone has old friends… Why the big fuss?

My family moves around a lot… We are almost nomad, I might say… Hehe… (And I assure you, we might move away again) At least more than most people that I know… Back in 2001, (I guess) my family moved from Sungai Buloh… The second ‘hijrah’ we made… The first was from Jitra, Kedah… And at that time there were no Friendster nor Facebook… Furthermore, back then, I was still too young to have the  courtesy to keep in touch… I had some phone numbers, but honestly I don’t even know where is the phone book  now…

I met one or two friends after that… Just by chance… Maybe when we went to the same camp… Or when I sometimes did the Jumaat prayer away from home… Or just when my family and I went to eat the best Satay in the world – Sate Sg. Buloh located just in front of the Pasaraya Ban Soon Seng (Ade lagi ke kedai tu, kawan2?) But that’s basically it… It wasn’t really a reconnection… Just a situation that the word ‘touch-and-go’ might describe best…

Last week was totally a different thing… It was big for me (It still is), since these are the people who taught me and these are also the people who I basically grow up with… I’ve not seen them for 9 years… And that for me, is a very long time…

I really hope that I can meet you guys again… May be some day, insyaAllah…

Last Sunday we had an Amazing Race… Hehe… Oh, the picture above  is of what those from KYUEM would call a ‘pet family’…

I had lots of fun, even though it was a very tiring and intense day… I got to know some people, who, I must honestly say, I won’t have the chance to know without that race… Not that I’m an antisocial and I don’t think that I prefer to be left alone, it’s just that making friends is not an easy thing for me… x) The ice is just too thick, sometimes…

And once more, I got to do the ‘mind over matter’ mantra once again… Hehe… The last time I did that was during the trial for DOE… And this time it worked again… x) We all hiked Petrin Hill… I never thought of doing that before…

And finally, before I wrap up this week’s post, let’s watch this, a video (of a movie which I watched) which I picked up while watching the Arrivals :

Too much greed is detrimental… It means taking more of the pie than necessary and creates conflict… And too much disapproval of greed is also detrimental… Everyone loses motive and no pie is made at all…

Like one Czech proverb once said… The middle way is the best way… Or so, I forgot exactly what my Czech teacher said…

The Future, Gratitude and Patience

Bismillah

Like every week, I’ll once more write or share something with you guys…  And let us all iA will gain some benefit from it… And if there’s anything that’s wrong in your eyes, do tell me, or at least take them as ‘teladan’… To learn from other people’s mistakes, for me, is a privilege… That’s why some people say that we should all learn from history… Oh, what a waste if we don’t… And I think we pretty much know and able to distinguish between which history is actually ours and what is not but tailored to sound like ours…

Someone couldn’t decide on what to do in the future… I had my share of dilemma too… And I’m going to share my uncertainty too… I don’t think that we are alone in this…

The future… Can you see it? Can you predict it? Will things be the same? Will we live like in the picture above? I don’t know… Future is a certainty (if we are still alive)… But what kind of future? No one knows…

Scientists said that nuclear reactors are safe… But melt down still occured (Chernobyl for example)… Scientists said that once they are able to sequence the gene for Cystic Fibrosis, it will take them about 2-3 years to find a cure for that… But until now, there are still much work to be done… And they said that in 1989… No, I’m not a scientist hater… Hehe… I’m even considering to be a scientist… Those are just the examples that I know of… When predictions (not by any average joe, but by scientists) go wrong…

I am used to think that after these six years of study, iA, I will be a clinician… Work in a hospital or a relief camp somewhere, practice and safe people… Hehe… But during the Biochemistry lecture, the Professor asked the whole class, “Is there anyone here who is not going to be a clinician?”

Some people raised their hands…

I said to myself, “There are? But why?” It was quite inconceivable… But after the class… It made me think and I suddenly find myself saying “Why not?” Wouldn’t it be thrilling? I mean, the quest for knowledge… Working in big labs… Designing drugs or instruments to help people… Or even finding a way to regenerate the degenerated Alpha Motor Neuron(Which professor Pokorny inspiringly said is the ‘task’ of our generation) … (I hope I don’t sound too geeky… Hehe) I know, I know, being a clinician doesn’t mean that your knowledge can just be at the level when you graduated from med school…

Maybe it’s still too early to give this some serious thought… But for now, if someone asks me about what I want to do in the future… I would say, I don’t know… Because I might do both… x)

Whichever path I might take later, those paths are still not open for me too choose… First, there are lots of work to be done… Let us all work towards the future, and let’s find the answers together… -_-’

On gratitude… I, more often than not, didn’t really realize all the good things or lack-of-bad-thing happening to me… Sometimes, even when experiencing just a small problem or challenge, I will start whining… Come to think of it, when life is just fine (nothing bad nor good happened) I rarely feel ‘bersyukur’… I am used to think that ‘bersyukur’ is just when one actually gets what he/she wants… Only when one passes the exams… When the allowance money is deposited… When the oven chimes… When the professor says, “Any question?” x) It’s good to feel (bersyukur) like that but someone told me this:

Lihatlah pada orang yang sakit, nescaya anda akan dapat memahami erti sihat… Lihatlah pada orang yang di dalam penjara, nescaya anda akan menghargai kebebasan anda sekarang… Lihatlah…

And that I realized that without looking at things in the shoes of those unfortunate people we’ll never realize on how much actually do we have and how fortunate we are… And without realizing those, I’ll never be grateful enough…

“Truly Allah is gracious to people, but most people are not thankful” (parts of Al Baqarah, verse 243)

And on patience… Life is not a fairy tale… There would be a time when we will fall, be hurt and be frustrated… This is the time, when patience comes into the equation… See? Isn’t it beautiful? When we have more, be grateful… And when we don’t have enough, be patient… When the tram arrives just as we arrive at the tram stop, be grateful… And when the tram door closes just as we are about to board it, be patient… x)

But yeah, virtues without effort will just remain in virtual reality… Don’t expect that things will get better if we just be patient and stay idle… If we fail, get up and do better!

Jste Čínan? Nebo Japonec?

Bismillah

I have to admit that I don’t have the talent for giving titles to my post… x)… I indeed got asked with those questions… I personally don’t care… I’m a human, that’s it…

Last week was quite normal to me, with some exceptions… Hehe… Nothing big really happened, no turning points nor hard choices…

Monday

Had physical education as usual, left home at around 7 o’clock… What’s unusual is the unfortunate fact that I got lost after choosing the wrong exit from the Metro… It costs me an extra 30 minutes for the journey home… Which ultimately resulted in me skipping the Physio lecture altogether… I used to be better never than late, but somehow the old habit kicks back in…

Why you think it? – A professor repeatedly asked this each time we answered his questions during Physio practical… Which forced a smile from me, in the effort to avoid laughing uncontrollably… One day, one of us might answer – Why not?

Wednesday

Today is quite normal to… Except for the snow in fall and my tenacity to find the only stall (that I know of) that sells LANGOŠE… It tastes like cakoi and chewing it is very much like chewing cold cakoi… Only that it’s roundish rectangular shaped and is eaten with grated Eidam and tomato ketchup…The stall is located right in the middle of Old town, just in case if you guys want to try it… x)

Haha… I even looked in the youtube on how to make them… I doubt that all of you can understand the whole video (I don’t understand them Czech language too… At least not wholly…)

I haven’t tried making them yet… For the time being I’m sticking with tepek kelapa (trust me, Czechs are crazy for coconut!) for breakfast and occasional nasi goreng for dinner (I usually had to have tuňákový sendvič-Czech for Tuna Sandwich- as I’m usually at the library till late at night)

and lastly, I want to share these:

Cantik - http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/wellcome-image-awards

Rendah diri - http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427306.100-venki-ramakrishnan-a-nobel-display-of-modesty.html

Global warming - http://green.yahoo.com/global-warming/ed-14/global-warming-myths-and-facts.html

4 anak 4 musim - http://kaunselorsamsul.blogspot.com/2009/04/there-was-man-who-had-four-sons.html

Second sun ? - http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427291.300-building-a-second-sun-take-10-billion-add-coconuts.html

Loved the piano intro - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1bxlDAjGCo

That’s all folks!